By Gary Abbott NEW YORK, N.Y. – Three-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake won both of his matches against ranked opponents at 165 pounds and received the Bill Farrell Outstanding Wrestler Award at the inaugural Grapple At The Garden in world-famous Madison Square Garden.

The event featured 14 Division I college programs competing in 12 dual meets, featuring numerous All-Americans and ranked athletes, including five dual meets between teams with national rankings. There were thousands of fans in attendance, filling the lower bowl of the Garden and providing a great atmosphere for wrestling on Dec. 16. Dake had a great day, opening with a victory over Zach Toal of Missouri, 4-0. In his second match, Dake defeated No. 3 ranked Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma State, 4-1. Caldwell was a 2011 NCAA runner-up competing for Oklahoma. “I wrestled all right. I didn’t get to my takedowns. I have to keep working on that. If I get more offense going on my feet and I keep wrestling tough, I will do a lot better. But I dominated today and overall it was a good performance,” said Dake. Dake’s Cornell team had a tough day, dropping two highly competitive dual meets. In their first dual, No. 7 Missouri stopped No. 8 Cornell, 22-12. In a dual meet which was close throughout the early weights, the Tigers won three of the last four matches for the victory. The biggest win for Missouri came at 197 pounds, when Brent Haynes scored a pin in 4:42 over Jace Bennett to clinch the win.

The Big Red gave a tough match in the second round to No. 2 Oklahoma State. The score was 17-16 in favor of Oklahoma State after 197, and the Cowboys closed out the dual meet with a major decision victory at heavyweight by Alan Gelogaev over Stryker Lane, 12-3. This gave the favored Cowboys a 21-16 vic- tory, although both teams had five victories. The difference was that Oklahoma State scored bonus points in four matches, including a big pin by No. 1 ranked Chris Perry over Duke Pickett at 5:56 at 174 pounds. “The team, I wish we did a little better, but we have to take what we can get and learn from it,” said Dake. Dake was among five past NCAA champions in the field, all who won their matches. His teammate, 2012 NCAA champion Steve Bosak, made his return to the Big Red for the first time this year. Bosak’s two victories included a 6-0 victory over Mike Larson of Missouri, then a razor tight 4-3 win over Chris Chionuma of Oklahoma State. The other three past NCAA champions to win all of their bouts were two-time NCAA champion Matt McDonough of Iowa at 125 pounds, 2012 NCAA champion Logan Stieber of Ohio State at 133 pounds and 2011 NCAA champion Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State at 149 pounds.

McDonough helped lead his No. 5 Hawkeyes to a victory over Hofstra. He opened with a strong 10-2 major decision over nationally ranked Steve Bonanno, and the team won the Hofstra match, 42-0. McDonough did not compete in the second Iowa match against Bucknell, which his team also won handily with- out him, beating Bucknell, 34-9.

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2011 NCAA champion Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State went 2-0 in New York City. Larry Slater photo.

Stieber had a strong day for No. 4 Ohio State. He pinned Paul O`Neill of Maryland in 1:26, then in his second bout, stopped Jamie Franco of Hofstra with a 16-0 technical fall. It was a great day for the No. 4 Buckeyes, who defeated No. 18 Maryland, 34- 3, then hammered Hofstra, 38-3.

Oliver was also key in both of the victories by Oklahoma

State. Oliver pinned Jared Presley of Chattanooga in 3:12 in the opening bout, leading the Cowboys to a 41-9 team win. In OSU’s win over Cornell, Oliver added a major decision over Chris Villalonga,11-3. In an upset among ranked teams, No. 18 Maryland stopped No. 14 Nebraska, 18-17. Nebraska had the lead 17-9 after 174 pounds, when Robert Kokesh pinned Aaron Norris in 1:38. Maryland won the final three bouts for the victory. The first big win was in a battle of two ranked wrestlers, when Jimmy Sheptock of the Terrapins went overtime to defeat Josh Ihnen, 6-4 with a sudden victory takedown at 184. After a win by Christian Boley at 197 pounds, it all went down to heavyweight. Again in overtime, Carl Buccholz stopped Donny Longendyke, 3-2 on a tiebreaker, scoring the winning escape.